RACC Blog

Ray Trayle Print Prize exhibit and opening, March 31 at RACC

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As part of the SGCI Flux Print Conference, RACC is hosting an exhibition of the Ray Trayle Print Prize winners with a reception on Thursday, March 31 from 6 –8 pm. The 2016 prize will be awarded at 6:30. RACC offices are at 411 NW Park Avenue, #Suite 101.

The Ray Trayle Print Prize is an annual award given to a remarkable Northwest printmaker in appreciation of Ray Trayle’s contribution to the art of printmaking. Because of his generosity in the design and fabrication of their hand-tailored printing presses, press owners and regional printmakers came together to create THE RAY TRAYLE PRINT PRIZE. Each year, an outstanding regional printmaker will receive recognition of merit and a cash award in Ray Trayle’s name. Initiated with contributions from grateful printmakers who own Ray Trayle presses, this endowed fund is established under the auspices of the Regional Arts and Culture Council. This is the fifteenth year of the prize. The exhibit will run through May 13, 2016.

 

Portland Building Installation Space: Jenna Reineking’s Installation March 21 – April 15

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Artist Jenna Reineking’s upcoming installation in the lobby of the Portland Building is designed to transform the architecture immediately surrounding it into an “activated” environment; her choice of materials to accomplish this—the humble brown paper lunch bag. “I recently have become interested in creating systems using forms repeated in incremental units that can range from finite to infinite based on the constraints of the space. The choice to use inexpensive, readily accessible materials allows me to create environments that ask the viewer to revalue the mundane. The bags will each be carefully sculpted and adhered one by one in a format that best fits the space. They will “grow” from the corners and utilize the walls, ceiling, and floor.”

Viewing Hours & Location: The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue in downtown Portland and is open 8 am to 5 pm, Monday – Friday. Jenna Reineking’s Installation runs from March 21 – April 15.

For more information on the Portland Building Installation Space, including images, proposals, and statements for all projects dating back to 1994, go to https://racc.org/public-art/installationspace.

“FMRL,” an installation by Tyler Corbett & Erinn Kathryn at the Portland Building, 2/16—3/11

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PORTLAND, ORE – The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) is pleased to present FMRL, a new installation by Tyler Corbett and Erinn Kathryn on exhibit February 16 through March 11, 2016 at the Installation Space in the Portland Building. Viewing hours are Monday – Friday, 8 am to 5 pm, or by special appointment.

FMRL is constructed from thousands of ephemeral bits of refuse collected from the streets of Portland’s inner city. Throughout 2015 the artists systematically scoured the sidewalks, bridges and gutters of the downtown and eastside industrial neighborhoods gathering tiny pieces of plastic, paper and metal. The amorphous, fractured fragments are arranged across the walls, floor and ceiling of the Installation Space to form a radiating network of colorful pathways and meandering trails. With careful study individual objects emerge from the sea of trash. The once unrecognizable forms become familiar, yielding an intimate examination of the ubiquitous products and materials that are consumed and discarded in our town.

About the Artists: Interdisciplinary artists Tyler Corbett and Erinn Kathryn are a collaborative team working in Portland, Oregon. Through painting, sculpture, installation, photography and video, they address geography, space and scale. They spend extensive time studying topographical maps, aerial photography and satellite data, and traversing landscapes that are eventually interpreted in their work. Corbett and Kathryn were 2014 RACC Project Grant recipients and as collaborators have had featured exhibitions at the Multnomah Arts Center and Lightbox Kulturhaus in Portland, Lovell Showroom in Astoria, Oregon, and at the Alaska House Gallery in Fairbanks, Alaska. They have participated in group exhibitions at the Peoples Art of Portland Gallery and at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Their work based on Denali National Park has become part of the permanent collection of the Museum of the North in Fairbanks. For more information please visit http://tylercorbett.com and  http://www.erinnkathryn.com

Viewing Hours & Location: The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue in downtown Portland and is open 8 am to 5 pm, Monday – Friday. FMRL runs from February 16 through March 11, 2016.

For more information on the Portland Building Installation Space, including images, proposals, and statements for all projects dating back to 1994, go to  http://racc.org/installationspace.

Issued by RACC on 2/2/16

RACC celebrates Portland Winter Light Festival on First Thursday with Night Lights: Bodies in Motion, Bodies at Rest

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WHO: Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC), Hollywood Theatre, Portland Winter Light Festival

WHAT: Bodies in Motion, Bodies at Rest, part of the Night Lights video projection series

WHEN: Thursday February 4 from 5:00 to 9:00 pm

WHERE: RACC, 411 NW Park Avenue, Portland, OR 97209. Video projected on the North wall, facing NW Glisan Street

Since September of 2015 RACC and Hollywood Theatre have been collaborating on a First Thursday projection series in the Pearl District called Night Lights. February’s projection is a special collaboration with the Portland Winter Light Festival. Portland artist Fernanda D’Agostino has curated seven Oregon video artists to explore “bodies in motion and bodies at rest” from a wide range of sensibilities.

  • Fernanda D’Agostino investigates both the psychology and science of movement.
  • Penda Diakite analyzes the body as a source of cultural identity and expression.
  • Dancer/Artist Kelly Rauer creates a landscape of movement with her own body as the subject.
  • Julie Perini and Stephen Slappe study the strangeness of everyday experience and how the mundane details of life can take on a sense of mystery.
  • Mack McFarland investigates in his videos the visceral aesthetics and engages viewers in an examination of the nature of perception.
  • Ying Tan’s bodies in motion are sometimes bodies of water or the bodies of other creatures and invite reflection and contemplation.

Their large-scale video projections will be displayed on the large outside wall at RACC and can be viewed from the parking lot.

LINK: PORTLAND WINTER LIGHT FESTIVAL
Issued by RACC on 1/26/16

Guestwork’s “Accounting for Public Interest” unfolds at the Portland Building January 11th – February 6th

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PORTLAND, ORE – Accounting for Public Interest, a playful interactive poll by artists Travis Neel and Erin Charpentier (a.k.a. Guestwork), opens at the Portland Building January 11th. The project examines the relationship between Portland residents and their ideal city and engages visitors in a game of critical thinking that guides participants through a series of exercises that compare and contrast a Portland of the past, present, and future. At designated hours throughout the duration of the exhibition Guestwork will perform as pollsters and conduct their survey in person, but the installation will also include voting booths, ballots, questionnaires and signage to be interacted with when the artists are not present. In the final week of the exhibition, a series of graphics with the results of the survey will be installed.

“The questionnaire will contain a series of predetermined binary questions such as ‘Would you rather have a city of private property or a city of commonwealth?’ and ‘Would you rather have a revolutionary city or a city of consistency?’ After voting, participants will cast their questionnaire into a ballot box. The votes will be counted, compiled and displayed as infographics.” — Guestwork

Using the familiar mechanism of voting Accounting for Public Interest works to thoughtfully and whimsically examine the way Portland functions as a civic body; through the exploration of civic language, affects, and gestures, the game facilitates a critical examination of the relationship of the citizen to private ownership, public authority, and the commons.

Viewing Hours & Location: The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue in down-town Portland and is open 8 am to 5 pm, Monday – Friday. Accounting for Public Interest runs from January 11th through February 5th, 2016.

For more information on the Portland Building Installation Space, including images, proposals, and statements for all projects dating back to 1994, go to www.racc.org/installationspace.

19th annual City of Portland and Multnomah County employee art exhibit, “all the art that fits”

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PORTLAND, ORE — The Regional Arts & Culture Council will be hosting the 19th annual City of Portland and Multnomah County employee art exhibit, all the art that fits, opening on Thursday, December 3rd. The exhibit takes place in the Portland Building lobby Installation Space and is a yearly favorite for both the artists and regular visitors. All types of 2-dimensional artworks are displayed “salon style” in the show, which is a delightful mix of beauty, whimsy, thoughtfulness, and charm.

RACC invites visitors to vote for their favorite artwork as part of the People’s Choice Award. This year’s winner will receive a gift from the Northwest Film Center for the Portland International Film Festival, generously donated for this event. The exhibition will run through Monday, January 4th, and the People’s Choice Award winner will be announced on January 5th, 2016.

Only original artwork created by current employees of the City or County is eligible to be included. All the artwork submitted will be installed wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling. For those eligible and interested in participating, submissions must be dropped off Wednesday, December 2, between 8:00 and 10:00 am, to the Portland Building lobby located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue between SW Main and SW Madison. For further information please see the exhibition guidelines on the RACC website below.

Viewing Hours & Location: The exhibition is free and open to the public 8 am to 5 pm, Monday – Friday. The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue in downtown Portland. The exhibition will run from December 3, 2015 to January 4, 2016.

“Celebrate Public Art” exhibition at Portland City Hall opens November 12

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PORTLAND, ORE — To honor the legacy of Portland’s longstanding and nationally respected public art program, the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) presents Celebrate Public Art, an exhibition at Portland City Hall November 12th through December 4th.

The impetus for the exhibit is the 35th anniversary of the Percent for Art ordinance in Portland. All four floors of City Hall will be decked out with colorful banners showcasing all of the city’s public art collections maintained by RACC, including the Portable Works Collection, the Visual Chronicle of Portland, the Portland Building Installation Space, in situ PORTLAND, the Public Art Murals Program, and intersections artist residencies. The exhibition is free and open to the public during regular building hours, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday.

The public is also invited to a reception on Thursday, November 19th, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm with live music and refreshments. A special toast will be given at 6:00 pm.

“2015 is a big year for public art in Portland,” said Portland Arts Commissioner Nick Fish. “Thanks to our team at RACC, we’re showcasing our public art collection at City Hall, and declaring November 2015 to be ‘Public Art Month’ in the City of Roses.”

The exhibition is sponsored in part by Push Dot Studio.
 
 

Restored “Talos No. 2” sculpture returns to the Transit Mall

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MEDIA ALERT AND PHOTO OPPORTUNITY

WHO: RACC

WHAT: James Lee Hansen’s public art sculpture, Talos No. 2, is being reinstalled

WHEN: Friday, October 30, 2015. Public art staff will be on site until 12:15pm.

WHERE: SW 6th Avenue at Stark Street in downtown Portland

Talos No. 2, a sculpture by artist James Lee Hansen that was violently knocked down by a vandal in July, is returning today to its pedestal at the corner of SW 6th & Stark.

Talos No. 2 has been absent from its pedestal since July 8.

Talos No. 2 has been absent from its pedestal since July 8.

Working with art local conservator Robert Krueger and expert welders from Art & Design Works, the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) coordinated a complete repair of the seven foot tall bronze that has overlooked the Transit Mall since 1977. The three month restoration process began with the precise physical reconnection of the five pieces the 400 pound sculpture broke into when it hit the sidewalk. Once positioned, the adjacent edges were ground to expose clean metal, welded, and then delicately “chased” to create a joint surface with texture indistinguishable from adjacent areas. The repaired areas were then treated chemically to match the overall bronze patina.

The City of Portland’s Fine Arts Insurance policy paid for a portion of the repair, and several donors have made small gifts to help cover the $2,500 deductible. Additional donations can be made at www.racc.org/donate. For more information contact Public Art Collections Manager Keith Lachowicz at 503-823-5404 orklachowicz@racc.org or visit http://racc.org/public-art/search.